Well, Chinook, Cascade, Liberty, Mt. Hood, etc. were all developed in public/private partnerships by people who liked hops (OSU researchers) for hop farmers and people who use hops (B/M/C). Sometimes people just create to make the world a better place. New hops are good for everyone involved in hops, and rising tides lift all boats. But, if you want to make a bunch of cash in a hurry, patents are the way to go.
Luckily for everyone, Jonas Salk lived in a time before big pharma.
The BMC type breweries funded that work. They wanted high alpha hops so they could use less for bittering. The Hallertau derivatives were developed as an alternative to imported hops. Both were many saving strategies.
It wasn’t just BMC funding that research. OSU is a public institution. They receive government funding. We all paid for those hops to be developed. BMC paid more than most of us, but they benefited more than most of us. The hops farmers wanted more disease-resistant hops, too.
My problem with patented hops is the person who patents the hops didn’t develop that variety all by themself. Just look at the Tomahawk/Zeus. Zimmerman quit the USDA and began private hop breeding, using unreleased germplasms he took from the USDA for his personal profit. We don’t really have idea what the lineage of Simcoe or the other patented hops are, or if they’re based on stolen publicly-funded germplasms or not.
I agree that OSU has many revenue streams as a public institution. Ask why they aren’t releasing new hop varieties today? If you are familiar with Indiehops, you know that they were set up to fund new hop breeding at OSU and get the program going agian.
The CTZ thing is interesting if you do some deep dives into it on the web.
Who knew hops were so controversial…
Missouri has a research institute devoted to developing new viticulture techniques and breeding programs for midwest-friendly grape varieties. It’s funded through a ~$0.35/barrel excise tax on all wine produced in the state. All wineries in MO are mandatory members of this group, and they all benefit from the fruits of the labor.
With ~200m barrels produced per year, even a $0.05 increase in the beer excise tax would raise $10m/year for beer research. I’m not sure why brewers don’t lobby for something like this when they’re all desperate to get the latest/greatest hop varieties, and paying through the nose to get them when they can. Just check out the probrewer forums and search for “Simcoe.”
There is some good logic to that.
Stan Heironymus said that the German Government has funding to develope new hops at the Hull Research Institute. High Alpha and Aroma hops. They see what is happening in the US and see how the hop farmers can benefit.
I had that figure wrong, it’s $0.12/gallon on consumer wine sales, not excise. It funds the Wine and Grape Board, which underwrites the Institute for Continental Climate Viticulture and Enology, which is a branch of Mizzou college of agriculture.
Pre-prohibition Missouri was the biggest wine producer in the country, and they’re trying really hard to get there again.
They’re starting to trickle in over here in the US as well. Just got some Polaris (21.3% AA!!!) in today from Nikobrew. Very curious to try these puppies out.
That may have been the one he had the picture of, that were about 30 ft. high and looked like trees, with about 2800 lbs per acre IIRC. Listen to his talk from the NHC if you are a memeber.
FYI:
Farmhouse Brewing has 2012 Simcoe pellets in stock. They do offer pounds for $19.00.
They also have the very rare 2012 Nelson Sauvin pellets at an almost reasonable $23.00 a pound.
I ordered both today
I was listening to Stan Hieronymus’ presentation and my wife overheard. She said Stan sounds like a cartoon character of what a beer nerd would sound like. She meant that in the nicest way possible.
He does write good books that have been well researched. I look forward to his hop book.
Stan Hieronymus is definitely my favorite beer author. I love that he doesn’t pretend to be an “expert” on anything, so he seeks out a lot of different experts to inform his views, then he synthesizes that to a clear, concise form.
Hopsdirect is starting to release 2012 pellets this Friday, starting with Centennial and Cascade. Farmhouse Brewing Supply has 2012 pellets of Simcoe and Amarillo already available.
Already sold out!
They do have some Riwaka in stock, though. (limit one 4oz bag)
Now how do you know that?
I can’t believe Simcoe and Amarillo are selling out so quickly, it’s depressing :( I want to get my hands on at least a pound of Simcoe this year.
I got my hops from fresh hops. They look wonderful, but, as I feared, they’re not sealed well. I think my best plan would be to split them into smaller packages with a vacuum sealer and keep them frozen. I’m hoping they’ll stay good for a year. Where’s nitrogen when ya need it.
I always do this with my hops from freshops and they stay nice and fresh for up to 2 years, sometimes more. I’m still using zues from last year and they are great.